This invention relates to a fare box of a type for receiving paid fares, for example, for public transport with the fares being supplied either in paper or in coin and token form for collection within a vault provided within a housing of the fare box.
Fare boxes of this general type which are currently available on the market place, are either of a very simple construction in which fares are dropped by the passenger through a vertical slot into a chamber, the lower wall of which is defined by a dump platter so that the fare drops onto the platter for viewing by the operator through a transparent wall. Devices of this type are generally satisfactory for fares in coins or token form but often have problems with fares in paper form since bills have very low mass and can tend to expand or open from the folded condition within the chamber and can in many cases hang up and block the chamber and interfere with the operation of the device. Further problems which arise with devices of this general simple type are the low levels of security which can enable the operator to remove or extract some of the takings. While this may on an individual basis be very small, on an ongoing bases it can constitute a significant loss to the overall income.
Other devices available on the market place tend to be extremely complex in that they have extensive electronic components used to control the device and used to measure and detect various coins, tokens or bills. Devices of this type have a significant problem in that they are very expensive to maintain and having high complication are prone to breakdown.
Other devices revealed in a patent search are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,453,667 (Zerfahs), 2,906,377 (Simjian), 3,667,485 (Sesko), 3,078,789 (McGee), 2,723,825 (Miller), 4,130,238 (Williams), 3,108,741 (Thomas), 4,372,478 (Gomez et al), 1,628,508 (McElligott), 3,966,116 (Dominick et al), 3,670,955 (Dominick et al), 4,201,333 (Oslin et al), 28,307 (G. G. Dominick et al), 2,884,188 (M. L. Grant et al).
Many of the above patents are included merely to show various examples of devices of this type. U.S. Pat. No. 1,628,508 (McElligott) discloses an arrangement for controlling movement of the lid of a vault contained within the housing of the device but this control is provided by a complex mechanical movement which is thus prone to breakdown and failure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,108,741 (Thomas) discloses an electrical interlock system for the fare box device. However, this system is not designed for maximum security and it leaves open a significant possibility for improvement.
A number of the previous patents including for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,130,238 (Williams) and 4,453,667 (Zerfahs) disclose feed arrangements for receiving paper material. However, these feed arrangements are not designed to accommodate fares fed in coin or token form and therefore problems can arise should a passenger or customer inadvertently feed one or more coins into the paper feed slot.
It is one object of the invention, therefroe, to provide an improved fare box which is better designed and adapted for its particular purpose.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a fare box which is able to accommodate fares provided in both paper and coin form without jamming of the paper within a display container and without the danger of a paper feed mechanism being jammed by the presence of one or more coins.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fare box including a dump platter onto which fares are deposited, with control of the dump platter being obtained by various switches on the device allow it to be controlled by the operator and which avoid the collection of excess fares on the dump platter and avoid the possibility of such fares being retained within the inspection zone and kept out of the vault when the vault is removed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fare box in which security is improved by providing a vault which can be readily inserted into the housing of the fare box and is automatically locked by a simple mechanical technique which is resistant to tampering as it is removed from the housing to prevent any possibility of an unauthorized person obtaining access to the interior of the vault.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide a fare box of this type in which security is improved by allowing servicing of the fare box only after the vault is removed from the housing, thus preventing service personnel from obtaining access to any collected fares within the housing when acting to service of the fare box.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a fare box comprising a housing, means defining a slot in the housing for receiving fares therethrough for collecting in the housing, an inspection zone in the housing having a transparent zone wall through which an operator can view a fare deposited in the housing, dump means for temporarily retaining the fare in the inspection zone and operable to release the fare therefrom, a vault arranged to receive and retain said fare from said dump means and comprising a container separate from the housing and including means co-operable with the housing such that the container can be inserted into and removed from the housing, and a fare forwarding drive assembly mounted in said housing rearwardly of said slot for grasping and feeding said fare to said inspection zone, said drive assembly comprising a first roller means, a second rollers means co-operable with the first roller means to form a nip therebetween, means for driving said roller means in a direction such that the fare is grasped in the nip and forwarded through the nip, and means providing a release action at said nip such that at least a portion of the nip can define a space between said first and second roller means so as to allow therethrough fares in coin and token form as well as fares in paper form.
According to the second aspect of the invention there is provided a fare box comprising a housing, means defining a slot in the housing for receiving fares therethrough for collecting in the housing, an inspection zone in the housing having a transparent zone wall through which an operator can view a fare deposited in the housing, dump means for temporarily retaining the fare in the inspection zone operable to release the fare therefrom, a vault arranged to receive and retain said fare from said dump means and comprising a container separate from the housing and including means co-operable with the housing such that the container can be inserted into and removed from the housing, and control means for controlling actuation of said dump means, said control means including a manually actuable switch arranged to actuate said dump means on operation of said switch by an operator, a timer circuit arranged to periodically and repeatedly operate said dump means after a predetermined period of time, a manually operable delay switch means arranged to reset said timer circuit and means responsive to feeding into said slot of a further fare to reset said timer circuit.
According to the third aspect of the invention there is provided a fare box comprising a housing, means defining a slot in the housing for receiving fares therethrough for collecting in the housing, an inspection zone in the housing having a transparent zone wall through which an operator can view a fare deposited in the housing, dump means for temporarily retaining fare in the inspection zone and operable to release the fare therefrom, a vault arranged to receive and retain said fare from said dump means and comprising a container separate from the housing and including means co-operable with the housing such that the container can be inserted into and removed from the housing, the vault including a lid, lock means for retaining the lid in a locked closed position when removed from the housing, the lid having a pair of pin members each projecting from the lid and being compressible into a retracted position and including spring means for biasing said pin members into a projecting position thereof and means for prevent compression of said pin members beyond said retracted position, said housing including a pair of track means each receiving a respective one of the pin members and including a first track portion for guiding respective pin member to force the lid into an open position as the vault is inserted into the housing and a second track portion for guiding the pin member to force the lid into the locked closed position as the vault is removed from the housing, the second track portion having a depth to receive the respective pin members in the projecting position thereof, the first track portion including a ramp surface arranged to gradually compress the pin member into the retracted position as the pin member moves along said first track portion, said ramp surface terminating abruptly at a junction between the first and second track portions so that further movement of the pin member beyond said ramp surface requires said pin member to remain on said second track portion.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention there is provided a fare box comprising a housing, means defining a slot in the housing for receiving fares therethrough for collecting in the housing, an inspection zone in the housing having a transparent zone wall through which an operator can view a fare deposited in the housing, dump means for temporarily retaining the fare in the inspection zone and operable to release the fare therefrom, a vault arranged to receive and retain said fare from said dump means and comprising a container separate from the housing and including means co-operable with the housing such that the container can be inserted into and removed from the housing, said housing comprising an outer casing surrounding and including the parts of the box and acting as a security shroud therefore an inner support structure on which the parts of the box are mounted, a door on the outer casing covering an opening within the outer casing in which the vault can be received, the door being movable to an open position to allow removal of the vault and to a locked closed position to fully close the outer casing, first removable fastener means accessible only from said opening for attaching said outer casing to the inner support structure so as the casing is held in place thereon, and second removable fastener means accessible only from said opening for attaching the housing to a support, said vault and said opening being arranged such that said first and second fastener means can only be accessed after removal of said vault.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention there is provided a fare box comprising a housing, means defining a slot in the housing for receiving fares therethrough for collecting in the housing, an inspection zone in the housing having a transparent zone wall through which an operator can view a fare deposited in the housing, dump means for temporarily retaining the fare in the inspection zone operable to release the fare therefrom, a vault arranged to receive and retain said fare from said dump means and comprising a container separate from the housing and including means co-operable with the housing such that the container can be inserted into and removed from the housing, said housing comprising an outer casing surrounding and enclosing the parts of the box and acting as a security shroud therefore, and an inner support structure on which the parts of the box are mounted, said transparent zone wall comprising a first transparent screen in said outer casing and a second transparent screen in said support structure aligned with said first transparent screen when said outer casing is in place as a shroud thereon, said first transparent screen being formed from a synthetic plastic material resistant to impact damage and said second transparent screen being formed from glass.
With the foregoing in view, and other advantages as will become apparent ot those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, the invention is herein described by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, which includes a description of the best mode known to the applicant and of the preferred typical embodiment of the principles of the present invention, in which: